Greening the Grounds

At Lewis and Clark we believe in creating a campus grounds that not only works for the people who use it but also actively promotes sustainability of the land we use so future generations can continue to enjoy the campus. 

Pesticide Use

Pesticides are broken up into three different categories; insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides. Fungicides and insecticides are more toxic to the environment. Last year the Grounds Department looked at the most hazardous chemical (fungicide) that they use and tried to come up with a way to eliminate its' use. After doing some research they purchased a compost tea machine.

They take compost generated on the grounds and put it into a screened cylinder and place it in a tub of warm water that is aerated. This extracts the beneficial microorganisms and nutrients into liquid form that they can spray onto plants and soil. The idea is that you are making the soil and plant more healthy and able to function better with the presence of disease. Last year the grounds crew did not spray any fungicides and I have no doubt in my mind that the compost tea played a critical role.

Round up is a herbicide. It has a caution label which means it is the least toxic to the environment. The grounds crew are concerned about run off into environmental zones. This is why they use the Round Up Pro formulation. It is rain fast in five minutes type of spray which means you can spray it and five minutes later it can rain or be watered and there will be no run off. Round Up is also not mobile in the soil so there is no chance of leaching into the soil or moving to a sensitive area. Round Up also degrades fairly rapidly and does not build up in the soil.

In order to apply any pesticides in Oregon you have to posses a Certified Pesticide Applicators license. In order to retain this license you must accumulate a certain number of recertification hours. All of grounds crew employees have their license and attend seminars every year to retain our license. By law, the grounds crew has to report all of our pesticide use to the state of Oregon specifying the type, amount and location every month, which we do electronically.

This summer the grounds crew will not water any of the lawns on campus to help conserve natural resources. All the plant material (leaves, branches, etc.) are composted and used on campus.